Anyway first race today d&d. Its been a long road and indeed i'm not at the end of it yet, but to have a race under the belt is bleedin great!!

5 miles, part on road and part off. The race was hardly over a ratified course. When asked where the start was the instruction was "over there by the big tree". That said, other than the first mile or so it was tough enough. I came through unscathed in 6th place, first vet and oddly first in my weight category. Instead of Vet categories there was weight categories for the men (they didn't ask the women to weigh themselves) so the women categories were more traditional. Relative to one or two that i know i finished about where i expected. After such a long time in the garage, i should be happy enough overall. Next is a half Marathon on 10th December.

RFJ - well done on the marathon, especially so soon after Abingdon. Personal worsts are much tougher to finish than PBs - you're not only running for longer, but mentally it's harder to stay focused when you don't have a PB to chase. Rest well.

Good racing from Paddy, Gobi and Emzap earlier in the week too.

Hope everyone else has been well and enjoying various bonfirey celebrations.

The week has been eventful. On Friday we went to wedding #4 of 2011, which was lovely - then on Saturday I ran the first race of the Midland Women's XC league, which was horrible. Almost dropped out at several points as it seemed to go on forever, and really wasn't in the right frame of mind... finished in exactly the same position as last year, but on the plus side managed to avoid an ankle sprain this time! Next one has to be better...

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